Florida – Researchers found that providing PDMP data to prescribers did not alter the average number of prescriptions issued to patients; however, prescribers believed that the data did alter their prescribing and felt more comfortable prescribing controlled substances. View the STUDY.

Florida – Researchers attribute the 25% drop in oxycodone-related deaths in Florida to the implementation of the PDMP in 2011. The researchers identified one of the factors contributing to the decrease was how quickly the Florida practitioners began using PDMP data as part of their practice. View the STUDY.

Illinois – The Department of Human Services reports that more than 27,000 prescribers and dispensers have enrolled with the PDMP and have queried the system approximately 150,000 times per month. View the PRESS RELEASE.

Maine – A grant from the Maine Attorney General’s Office has created the Diversion Alert Program (DAP). DAP is a statewide program that notifies healthcare professionals when one of their patients has been arrested for diverting or abusing prescriptions. View the WEBSITE.

Massachusetts – The Massachusetts PDMP has released county-level data measures for CY 2013. Their report to the state Legislature shows that the PDMP may be reducing the incidence of doctor-shopping and helping to identify practitioners that may be overprescribing to their patients. View the REPORT.

New Jersey – A smart phone app was launched enabling prescribers and dispenses who are registered users of New Jersey’s PDMP to query their patient’s controlled substance prescription records and their own prescribing/dispensing history. View the ARTICLE.

New York – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a report showing that, following the implementation of an aggressive public health strategy targeting Staten Island, opioid analgesic overdose deaths decreased by 29%. The opioid analgesic overdose deaths did not change in the other four (4) New York City boroughs where the strategy was not implemented. Similarly, the rate for high dose prescriptions issued decreased by 8.2% in Staten Island, yet increased 4.7% in the other boroughs. Read the REPORT.

North Carolina – Researchers using data from the North Carolina PDMP found that neither the number of practitioners querying the system nor the number of times they used the system had a ‘chilling effect’ on the practitioners’ willingness to prescriber controlled substances. In fact, the researchers found that the increase in PDMP utilization led to a slight increase in the number of opioid prescriptions filled. View the STUDY.

Oklahoma – Oklahoma State University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine is offering a course for second-year medical students on recognizing and treating addicted patients. The University is planning to include an addiction course for all medical students. View the ARTICLE.

Oregon - The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) has implemented several initiatives to the prescription abuse problem:

Consequently, the rate of poisoning due to prescription opioid overdose in Oregon declined 38% between 2006 and 2013 (from 6.6 to 4.5 per 100,000 residents) and the rate of death associated with methadone poisoning decreased 58% in the same time period. Visit the OHA Website.

Pennsylvania – The Department of Health reports that the new Pennsylvania PDMP will not be operational by the end of June due to a lack of sufficient funding. View the ARTICLE.